Genealogy Chat

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I have the birth cert for one of my great-grandmothers, giving her date of birth as 8 November 1871. I’m sure I have the correct marriage cert for her, but the age doesn’t match. She was married on 25 December 1888 when she would have been 17 but gives her age as 19. Her father is not only alive, but one of the witnesses, so would she have given the wrong age in his presence? Thanks, Mandy :)

You'll probably find it was her dad who gave the info!! (You know what men can be like!! LOL....only joking!) Merry

yes my dad spelt my surname wrong when he registered my birth it has caused a few problems since. men!!!

Oh goodness, I feel a right idiot now. Didn't think of her blooming father getting it wrong! I've had plenty who have lied about their age, but there's usually no father in evidence. Many thanks! Mandy :)

I'm not sure about this, but I think if you were a minor your parent had to give his consent BEFORE the wedding, so this is when her age would have been mentioned.....maybe she wasn't even there? Or maybe the vicar remembered her age incorrectly, or was reminded incorrectly on the day, or was deaf as a post. Hubby's relative was a witness at his son's wedding and as the vicar wrote dad's name incorrectly, dad SIGNED the same!!! People were afraid of authority in ''them days''!! Merry

If she was under the age of 21, wouldn't she have to have parental permission to get married? It should state somewhere with the consent of,,,,whoever. Since her father is witness, I would assume his name would be in the consent section.

Merry, many thanks for your help. This one's not going to be an easy ride, elusive on the censuses already, so I didn't want to do loads of work on the wrong person! Think I can now assume it's safe to go ahead. Rebs, there's nothing on this cert to say anything about consent or permission, and I've never seen it on any of my other 'under age' ones either. Maybe it's recorded somewhere but not actually put on the cert? Thanks again Mandy :)

Oh okay. Guess that's another difference between our certs and yours. Victorias' certs have 'with written consent' on them if the bride or groom is under the legal age. Learn something new every day. Rebs x

Rebs That's a good idea, maybe that would have helped some of ours to be more accurate if they actually had to write it down lol! Mandy :)

I don't think people 'lied' about their age, they honestly didn't know how old they were. Although some families did celebrate birthdays, generally most families didn't (or couldn't afford to). They didn't have to fill in hundreds of forms with dates of birth as we do today so many dates of birth were simply forgotten. They perhaps knew they were born say, at 'harvest time' or 'just after Christmas' because Mum told them that, but the year just wasn't so important then.

I know I certainly didn't read through the details our entry on the marriage register, which had already been filled in by the vicar. Did all of you? Maybe as suggested, the age was mentioned prior to that day and /or was recorded incorrectly. Gwyn

was she from a largish family or indeed , dare i say, pregnant? i guess her father would have lied on her behalf if times were tough and she had found herself an eligable young man - one less mouth to feed if daughter is married off, and respectable if she was indeeed up the do-dah Jess

Jess Well she wasn't pregnant, but her and her siblings were all quite close together in age, so her father could well have got confused! Gwyn Thinking back, you're right! I can remember going to the registry office to give our details, but I definitely didn't look at the certificate on our wedding day. Mind you, we nearly weren't legally married, but that's another story ......lol! Mandy :)

Maybe the vicar just wrote a 7 instead of a 9 - simple mistake. I've got a marriage cert signed by the groom. His signature has his first name spelt differently from the name in the box for the groom! nell

Oooh Nell, I'm getting spooky vibes now - that's twice tonight that I've come onto a thread with something to say, and discovered that you've just said the same thing before me lol! Actually, I was going through it all with hubby just now (it starts to get even more complicated with mothers having different maiden names), and it suddenly occurred to me that a nine and a seven could be quite similar written down. Many thanks everyone for your input, Mandy :)

sometimes 7 's and 9's are mixed up in transcription because the top of the seven would often be written with a curved dip in the middle. another outside chance-I discovered a marriage only 2 years wrong with a couple in the next county with identical names as man and wife -pure coincidence -just 2 seperate weddings -

Actually Alter, funny you should mention that outside chance. I've just got a funny feeling that I might be looking at two different people with the same name. I've been up the wrong path (quite a long way) once before, so I wanted to make sure I didn't do it again. This one has a few oddities so I'm being very careful. Think I might list the facts tomorrow and post a new thread on here to get some more opinions. Mandy :)

My ggf gives age as 21 on marriage cert, he was 23, wife was 24. His sister married in Australia giving age as 29. She was 36. Husband was 26. My grandparents (Son of the above) marriage cert has the first names af their fathers reversed. As a result I don't trust info on certs. David

I think that on English/Welsh certs you will see that after the names etc., there is a line saying 'Married in the .......... according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the ........... by ......' If ther first part is a church then the Rites etc., stays put followed by Banns OR could be License. On the other hand it could be Married in the Register Office in which case the Rites and ceremonies bit will be deleted and it will be by Certificate.